Jupiter was discovered by Galileo Galilei in 1610 with a small telescope. The planet has a Great Red Spot which is located at 22 degrees south of Jupiter's equator. The great red spot produces wind-speeds up to 432 km/h (268 mph).
By mass, Jupiter's atmosphere is around 76% hydrogen and 24% helium. However, since helium atoms are larger than hydrogen molecules, Jupiter's upper atmosphere is about 90% hydrogen and 10% helium by volume. The atmosphere also contains small amounts of methane, water vapour, ammonia, and silicon-based compounds as well as trace amounts of carbon, ethane, hydrogen sulfide, neon, oxygen, phosphine, and sulfur. The outermost layer of the atmosphere contains crystals of frozen ammonia. Through infrared and ultraviolet measurements, small amounts of benzene and other hydrocarbons have also been found. The interior of Jupiter contains denser materials—by mass it is roughly 71% hydrogen, 24% helium, and 5% other elements.
Jupiter was the first planet to form. It moved towards the center during the early times of the Solar System. This affected how other planets were formed. Hydrogen make up most of Jupiter (90% by volume). Helium is the second and makes up a quarter of the mass and a tenth of the volume. Jupiter's interior is getting smaller. This process makes more heat than the planet receives from the Sun. It is believed that there is an outer mantle and a diffuse inner core of denser material inside Jupiter. Liquid metallic hydrogen would make up the outer mantle. Jupiter rotates very fast at 1 rotation per 10 hours. This creates a slight but noticeable bulge around the equator. So, Jupiter's shape is an oblate spheroid. The outer atmosphere have many bands across the latitude. Interactions between the bands create turbulence and storms. The Great Red Spot is the most obvious example. It is a giant storm which has was seen since 1831 and possibly earlier.
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↑Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C. (1989). "Jupiter". Oxford English Dictionary. Vol. 8 (2nd ed.). Clarendon Press. ISBN978-0-19-861220-9.
↑ 3.03.13.23.3Simon, J. L.; Bretagnon, P.; Chapront, J.; Chapront-Touzé, M.; Francou, G.; Laskar, J. (February 1994). "Numerical expressions for precession formulae and mean elements for the Moon and planets". Astronomy and Astrophysics. 282 (2): 663–683. Bibcode:1994A&A...282..663S.
↑de Pater, Imke; Lissauer, Jack J. (2015). Planetary Sciences (2nd updated ed.). New York: Cambridge University Press. p. 250. ISBN978-0-521-85371-2. Archived from the original on 2016-11-26. Retrieved 2019-04-26.
↑Williams, David R. (2023-02-11). "Jupiter Fact Sheet". NASA GSFC. Retrieved 2023-04-24.